DIPLOMAT MINE SITE

Forestburg, Near

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic PlaceThe Diplomat Mine Site comprises two massive strip mining machines and one large strip mining shovel bucket situated on 2.5 hectares of reclaimed strip mine located roughly 15 kilometres southwest of the Village of Forestburg. Visible to the immediate southwest of the site, but not included in the designation, are spoil piles that reflect mining operations and later reclamation efforts.

Heritage ValueThe heritage value of the Diplomat Mine Site lies in its association with the evolution of strip mining operations and technology in Alberta.

The area which the Diplomat Mine Site occupies was originally part of the collection of homesteads claimed by Austin Bish and his family, who arrived in Alberta from Oregon in 1905. In 1907, Bish's four sons established their first underground coal mine in the area to exploit the region's mineral deposits. The Bish brothers continued to operate underground mines in the vicinity until 1949, when the operation was sold to a group of business interests incorporated under the name Forestburg Collieries Limited. One year later, Luscar Coals Limited bought out the other partners in the enterprise and took control of the Diplomat Mine site. Prior to the 1940s, surface mining on a major scale had been unusual in North America; in the post-World War Two period, it became the dominant form of extraction in the industry. From 1950 until the mine's closure in 1986, massive extraction machines manufactured by the Marion and Bucyrus companies were responsible for removing overburden and stripping tons of coal from the site. The history of the Diplomat Mine Site thus encapsulates the transition in the province's mining industry from the predominance of underground mines in the early twentieth century to the growth of mass strip mining operations in the latter half of the century. After the mine was closed, portions of the site were reclaimed for agriculture.

Originally built in 1927, the Marion 360 shovel excavator was moved to the Diplomat Mine site from a mining operation in Pequot, Illinois, in 1950. At the time of its introduction in the 1920s, the Marion 360 was the largest mobile land machine in the world; when it arrived in Canada in 1950, it was the largest shovel in the country. Weighing several hundred tons, it is a massive instrument featuring a structure for housing the operators and machinery, a 27-metre boom, 17-metre dipper handle, and a shovel capacity of roughly seven cubic metres. Built in the period pre-dating the widespread use of welding technology, the Marion 360 features riveted construction and a host of innovative elements, including a levelling system of four hydraulic pistons at each corner of the lower frame. The Marion 360 was the sole strip mining machine at the site until 1962, when a Bucyrus 950-B Shovel was imported. The new machine had been erected in 1937 and represented at the time of its construction the largest excavator in the world. With a working weight of over 1,400 tons and a boom of 33 metres, the Bucyrus 950-B, nicknamed "Mr. Diplomat", was a wonder to behold. The excavator's massive scoop - known as the "Big Dipper" - had a capacity of roughly 25 cubic metres and is the only structure extant on site from the Bucyrus 950-B. Two years after the introduction of the Bucyrus 950-B Shovel, a smaller power shovel - the Bucyrus-Erie 120-B, built in 1944 - was also brought in to work at the mine. It is a smaller excavator with an 11-metre boom, a 8-metre dipper handle, and a shovel capacity of roughly 5 cubic metres. The Diplomat Mine Site is thus a strong representation of the evolution of strip mining technology between the 1920s and the 1940s. It also reflects the changes in the mining industry in Alberta between the early and the later twentieth century, recalling the emergence of large strip mining operations through the massive excavator equipment still on site.

The Marion 360 is one of the largest and oldest excavators in workable condition anywhere in the world. It's riveted design reflects an era before welding was introduced but nevertheless, the shovel was at the forefront of technology when built in 1927. The most notable feature is the hydraulic leveling system operating four large hydraulic pistons at each corner of the lower frame. When built, the Marion 360 was the largest excavator of any type in the world.

Provincially and locally, the Diplomat Surface Mine represents the history of a strong coal mining province. The underground mining of coal began in 1907 when the first homesteaders in the area opened mines all along this portion of the Battle River valley. Surface mining began in 1949, with the Canadian National Railway spur and tipple arriving in1950.